Late last month, more than 40 former members of a fringe charismatic church in Spindale, North Carolina told the Associated Press that their former church had spent the last two decades covering up abusive and outright criminal behavior–including child abuse. In one of the most outrageous anecdotes of all, these former members say that two deputy district attorneys who are also church members were actively involved in an effort to sabotage investigations of suspected child abuse. Now, their boss wants the state to find out if some of the men responsible for busting criminals turned into criminals themselves.
Frank Webster and Chris Back are deputy district attorneys for the state’s 25th Prosecutorial District, comprising Catawba, Burke, and Caldwell counties in the North Carolina Foothills. They are also ordained ministers at Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, which is in neighboring Rutherford County. Webster is also the son-in-law of the church’s founder and longtime pastor, Jane Whaley. A number of former members interviewed by the AP accuse Webster and Back of helping derail a 2015 investigation into child abuse at the church’s K-12 school, Word of Faith Christian School.
The 2015 investigation was triggered by accusations that teachers actively encouraged students to beat their classmates if they acted in a way that suggested they may have demons in them. Webster and Back were reportedly on hand for several strategy sessions at Whaley told members to lie to investigators. Even worse, Webster and Back are suspected of teaming up with Lori Cornelius, a social worker who is also a church member, to coach kids on what to tell investigators.
Former member Jeffrey Cooper, who is himself a practicing attorney, claimed that two years earlier, Webster and Back helped four WOFF members fend off charges of harassing a former member by holding a mock trial. While Webster played the role of prosecutor, Back helped coach the defendants on what to say at trial.
When Webster and Back’s boss, District Attorney David Learner, first heard of these allegations, he initially said it was merely a personnel matter. But late Wednesday afternoon, Learner asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into the allegations against Webster and Back. Apparently between Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon, he realized that if the WOFF walkaways were telling the truth, Webster and Back had betrayed their oath of office and every standard of decency that is known. According to a spokesman for Learner’s office, Webster and Back will continue to work while the investigation is underway, but there is no word on whether they will still try cases.
There’s no word on what caused this sharp reversal from Learner. But the mere fact that he did change his mind means that Webster and Back are now in the role of being the people who need lawyers on speed dial. Prosecutors in North Carolina are not allowed to provide legal advice or have any involvement in outside cases. Doing so can be grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including disbarment. If a prosecutor offers legal advice to help someone avoid prosecution, it can potentially be grounds for criminal charges. And of course, deliberately sabotaging a child abuse investigation is outrageously illegal.
Hopefully, the SBI will take a look at the dark matter that has long surrounded this church located halfway between Charlotte and Asheville. It first came to attention in 1995, when “Inside Edition” aired hidden camera footage of a WOFF service. The church is infamous for its practice of “blasting,” or banshee-like screaming intended to drive out demons. In case you missed it, watch it here.
In the two decades since then, the church has been the target of numerous complaints about abusive practices such as “blasting,” slapping, shaking, smacking, and choking people in the name of casting out demons. As the “Inside Edition” footage amply demonstrates, even kids and babies have to endure this abuse.
A close friend of mine who grew up in the area said that it’s well known that a number of judges and social workers in the county are at least sympathetic to WOFF. She recalled a number of child custody cases in which one parent is still in the church and another has escaped. Frequently, the church member wins, but the ex-member is granted supervised visitation.
Frankly, it’s incomprehensible that a parent could make his or her kids endure banshee-like screaming in the name of discipline and still be allowed to keep them. If that isn’t child abuse, what is? When a church considers this sort of behavior acceptable, the chances are better than even that they are engaging in behavior that not even the religious right’s warped interpretation of the First Amendment would protect.
For that reason, I hope that the SBI tackles the larger question of the abusive culture in this church while it investigates Webster and Back’s conduct. Remember, folks, the FBI’s corrupt dealings with Whitey Bulger started out with a probe into whether the FBI lied about the basis for getting a roving bug.
Incredibly, in the face of all of this, Whaley maintains that she and her members are the real victims–a classic case of the persecution complex that is all too common in the fundie world. Word of Faith Christian School maintains a museum of artwork commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. According to Karel Reynolds, who is both the school’s principal and the museum’s director, the “persecution” that WOFF has endured over the years has made them strongly identify with the victims of the Holocaust.
They managed to convince Charisma magazine of this line as well in 2012. The magazine bought Whaley’s claim that they had endured a “history of persecution” hook, line, and sinker. So being called out for screaming at kids and babies like banshees amounts to persecution? What nerve these people have.
If there is anything at all to the accusations against Webster and Back, a more apt comparison would be to Mafia boss John Gotti. He was nicknamed “the Teflon Don” for fending off charges in three high-profile federal and state charges–but it turned out that those cases were tainted by jury tampering, juror misconduct, and witness intimidation.
Gotti was ultimately convicted in a fourth trial and sentenced to life in prison. Likewise, if it does turn out that Webster and Back indeed helped their church cover up child abuse, they need to go to prison for as long as legally possible. And hopefully Whaley will join them.
(featured image: screenshot courtesy WSPA via WBTV)
